Foundations
Edgar Degas
A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers (Madame Paul Valpinçon?)
1865
Oil on canvas, 73.7 × 92.7 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The woman is pushed to the right and cut off by the edge, while a large bouquet takes the center.
- Look at the lower right corner: only a sliver of her hand is left in.
- Met curator Alison Hokanson describes her as "squished in at the right."
- She argues Degas planned such skewed layouts to give an effect of chance.
Concepts
Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Public Domain (Met Open Access)